A comparison in post-communist countries of public attitudes towards public goods

The EU-funded project PGPE (Public goods through private eyes. Exploring citizens' attitudes to public goods and the state in central eastern Europe) aimed at enriching knowledge on the key determinants of democratic governance and democratic expansion in new democracies.

To achieve this, the team designed and carried out a full-scale, comparative cross-national survey on the determinants of public attitudes and behaviour towards public goods in 14 post-communist countries. They subsequently combined the data generated with a wider range of existing indicators, in relation to institutional design. These indicators included social changes, political and economic reforms, and the historical legacies of the post-communist CEE countries.

Researchers studied people's attitudes towards public goods and common pool resources like healthcare, education and environment, combining approaches from the disciplines of politics, sociology, economics and psychology.

The project concentrated on exposing the mechanisms underlying cooperation among citizens and between citizens and the state in the context of provision of public goods and common pool resources.

The data collected from the interviews was combined with a range of social and economic indicators, describing the respondents' immediate neighbourhood and their country. The study represents a rich source of information for academics and policymakers.